County realizes energy savings from upgrades
June 26, 2009
ECO Staff – Laure Cioffi, senior journalist
NEW CASTLE – Representatives from the Eric Ryan Corporation say they are seeing a savings in utility costs for Lawrence County-owned properties since the company negotiated new utility rates for the county.
The Ellwood City company was also hired by Lawrence County commissioners to ensure the energy savings promised by Johnson Controls, who installed new energy-efficient equipment in the buildings, are achieved. If savings are not achieved, the county will get a refund from Johnson Controls.
Electric costs alone are expected to be $63,720 less in the next year due to the utility rate negotiated by the Eric Ryan Corporation, according to Chad Ubry, president of ERC’s energy services division.
Ubry and Lynn Campbell, project manager for ERC, gave a report on the energy savings to county commissioners at Thursday’s caucus meeting.
The company is also calculating the county’s savings in natural gas costs since it joined a consortium of governments, which have received more competitive rates from suppliers.
Campbell presented charts for commissioners showing the savings for each of the six buildings, which were part of the energy program through Johnson Controls.
The greatest savings to date has been at the Government Center, which has had $2,043 less in electric costs just in the month of April. For that month, the county’s overall electric costs were $4,219 less than the previous April’s costs.
Campbell said costs at the Almira Home were higher than expected. After investigating, they discovered there were electric heaters being used by employees, which were driving up the costs, she said. The heaters were removed by county maintenance workers, she said.
“The overall total shows we are meeting our goals. Some buildings are doing better than others,” Commissioner Steve Craig said.
(Laure Cioffi can be reached at LaureCioffi@EllwoodCity.org) |